The blooming of the Amorphophallus Titanum was the centre of attraction in Australia’s Geelong Botanic Garden.
About Amorphophallus Titanum
- Amorphophallus Titanum (called Titan Arum in short) flower blooms once in a decade and is one of the largest in the world — growing over 10 ft in height.
- Titan Arum has the largest flowering structure of any plant in the world, rising up to 3 metres from the ground.
- It is known as the ‘corpse flower’, from the infamous rotting smell when the plant is in bloom. This smell helps to attract pollinators during its short-lived flowering events.
- Although Titan Arum has a long life span of over 30-40 years, it flowers only occasionally and these events are often difficult to predict.
- Its native range in Sumatra, Indonesia is threatened by timber harvesting and creation of oil palm plantations.
- Titan Arum doesn’t bloom in the wild in Australia. It blossoms on limestone hills in the rainforests of western Sumatra, Indonesia, where it is called bunga bangkai (bunga means flower and bangkai means corpse). It was first described by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari in 1878.
- In addition, the myth about Titan Arum being a predator to people (due to the markings on the leaves’ stems which resemble a snake) leads to the destruction of the species when people find it growing in their farmlands.
(Source: IUCN)
